Brockton Bay
2009, June 11th, 19:58
///
Two minutes.
Habitually patting her side to confirm that her power was still there, in the form of a knife for now, Miss Militia, an olive skinned woman wearing a costume of stylized, fitted military fatigues that accentuated her curves. Over which she has a scarf covering her lower face, and a sash around her waist, both of which are patterned after the American flag. Moves her bottle-glass green eyes over the others in the same transport as her.
Of the five of them, four are almost identical. Wearing the same Kevlar armour, similar to what SWAT teams would wear, with a full helmet that is tinted to hide their faces completely, leaving not an inch of skin exposed.
The only way left to identify them is the weaponry they carry. One of them having a pack of containment foam on their back attached to a sprayer, akin to a flamethrower, just with the purpose of non-lethal takedown instead. Another is carrying a grenade launcher, one that Miss Militia knows to be filled with four con-foam grenades and one net. The other two both have simply assault rifles, loaded with rubber bullets and tranq rounds.
Finally, there is the man opposite her, the only other cape in the transport with her. Mimic's costume covers a majority of his body with a black bodysuit made from a Tinker made material even stronger and lighter than Kevlar, decorated with layers of more obvious armour over vulnerable places, chest, thighs, arms.
His mask covers the front of his head in a reflective surface, a one way mirror, leaving only the back of his head visible, showing off a head of short, messy black hair.
He notices her attention, if the way his helmet tilts slightly in her direction means anything.
"Nervous?" He asks over the only other sound present, a light rumbling of the armoured van's engine as it takes them ever closer to their destination.
"No." Miss Militia responds honestly, being far too experienced with similar operations to still feel any hesitation. "You? This is the first big op you'll be a part of here."
His response is to shrug lightly. "Maybe." He freely admits. "Mostly, I'm just having to remind myself that you're my Boss." He pauses, one hand coming up to scratch the back of his head.
It makes sense, she supposes. Mimic was the leader of Georgia's Columbus Protectorate back before... well, everything that happened there. She even understands the feeling, having to remind herself that she's in charge of the other Heroes now. Luckily, her new position hasn't asked anything of her yet that wasn't much more than she was already doing, and Mimic is a big help for her.
Their conversation is cut short by the transport slowing down to a steady crawl, and Miss Militia pulls up her left sleeve, checking her watch.
One minute.
Closing her eyes, she leans the back of her head against the thick metal behind her and centres herself, mentally going over the details of the operation, knowing them all by heart, courtesy of an eidetic memory.
One week ago today, a nomadic Villain group called Restaurant Innocence settled down in Brockton Bay. Their business is mainly the slave trade, moving around to pick up and sell their 'goods' while evading authorities, however they also settle down for a couple months every now and then, where they set up underground fights.
It's assumed that the leader, Big Master, does this as a way of getting rid of 'stock' that isn't being sold. People that no one wants to buy. A combination of blood sports being profitable, and then being able to sell whatever organs are left of the poor souls forced to fight to the death on the black market makes the whole thing far more profitable than simply letting them go.
Miss Militia has brought every Protectorate Hero for this operation. She would have brought the Wards too, but was overruled by Director Piggot thanks to the Youth Guard. She thought it would have been a good learning experience for her Wards, but it's not that big of a deal. They should be able to handle it just fine with only the adults.
Restaurant Innocence has five capes if their information is correct, which is two less than their side. Even then, the Restaurant's capes aren't overly strong according to reports, so a clean takedown should be fine.
The leader, Big Master, got his name from his form and his power, being an overweight, large man, whose power makes his orders absolute to anyone who he intends them for. Luckily, his power doesn't work through electronics or anything of the sort, so he is easily negated by wearing ear protectors that delay any sound heard by a few nanoseconds, invalidating his power.
That still leaves the other capes as threats. First there's his sister and or lover, Doppel. Her power is to change about the perceptions of who's who around her, making enemies seem as allies and vice versa.
To counter her, Velocity is going to use his super speed to stick both of them with a small tracking device, so that they know which ones they are, no matter the faces they take.
Then there's the three actual fighters. Juuzou, Party Trick and Rei Suzuya. Those three are the gang's muscle, but they also participate in the underground fighting whenever the Restaurant sets them up, so their powers are known enough that Miss Militia doesn't feel weary engaging them.
Juuzou is some kind of Brute with some measure of fire generation, Party Trick is similar. Less Brute power, similar pyrokinesis, but with a hammer-space of some kind filled with weapons. Lastly, there's Suzuya, who's power they know the least about, but the general effect seems to be some kind of self manipulation, controlling her clothes and such.
However, they are all estimated to be quite young, so even if their powers were stronger, Miss Militia wouldn't have been overly worried. At least, she wouldn't be worried for her own safety, she is certainly worried for them. Especially the two that don't even have a cape name to hide their identity.
Children should never be forced to fight for their lives.
The transport slows to a stop, knocking her out of her thoughts, and a quick check of her watch shows her exactly what she assumed it would.
Time's up.
The back of the van opens up and they all start funnelling themselves out. They find themselves standing in a mostly empty street, with only a large warehouse showing any signs of life. Only another emptying van, exactly the same as their own transport, is accompanying them under the setting sun.
Velocity should be inside by now, marking the two leaders for Battery or Miss Militia, whichever comes first, to perform a quick takedown on.
Looking into the air, Miss Militia sees Dauntless, a man dressed up like an ancient Greek warrior and with more potential than anyone she's ever known, take his spot in the skies above the building, his glowing Arclance crackling with electricity.
Her attention is brought back down to earth as Mimic approaches her, and she holds her arm out without a word.
He reaches out and lays his palm over her forearm, making sure that every bit of his palm is touching her, and then he starts to pull the hand away, and ethereal, phantom energy seeming to be pulled out of her body.
As he does so, the only other Hero on this side of the building, Challenger, approaches. She is a tall woman, wearing a red bodysuit with epaulettes on her shoulders and some other, military-esque decorations covering her. She only wears a simple headpiece, with only a single diagonal blindfold over her face, covering one eye.
She's one of the very few Heroes that doesn't cover her face, showing off her pronounced chin, sharp features and green eyes under dark brows, similar to Miss Militia. She goes through more extreme measures to hide her identity when out of costume instead.
They exchange cordial nods, but Challenger doesn't open conversation, choosing to instead watch as Mimic finishes drawing a phantom copy of Miss Militia out of her arm. The copy immediately moves away, a M97 shotgun forming in it's hands, to join a group of other phantoms; copies Mimic made of the troopers sharing their transport before he came over to her.
Done with that, Mimic turns to Challenger, who simply flips him off. "I ain't getting cloned."
"He's not a Master, you know?" Miss Militia says with an exasperated sigh, while Mimic simply shrugs his shoulders and moves over to the troopers that were traveling with Challenger.
"That's not the point."
Miss Militia hums in response, prompting an explanation.
"It's for all of your sake really," Challenger says before turning to her conversation partner with a smirk on her face, dragging her arms down her sides, "the world can only handle so much awesome~."
Stifling a chuckle, Miss Militia shakes her head, only for her head to snap in the direction of the warehouse as a sudden bang sounds out.
"Guess that's the signal then~."
Miss Militia doesn't get to respond before Challenger bursts forward, an explosion following her wake as she charges straight through the wall and into the building.
Sighing to herself, she straightens out the scarf around her lower face and with a thought, changes the knife at her waist into the same shotgun as her copy, loaded with rubber bullets, and starts making her way to the building.
Meanwhile, inside of the building, two very different scenes were taking place.
The building had been split into two, and on one side, the large room is completely crowded with chatting and cheering men and women, watching with glee as two men are forced to fight to the death inside the bloodied area between them all.
The adjacent room however, is significantly less intense.
Inside is a number of people, almost all of whom are chained up in one way or another, some of them even in uncomfortably small cages, like circus animals.
The only ones who aren't chained up are a pair of seemingly teenage girls.
The smaller of the two, Suzuya, has long and straight black hair and very doll-like features, something her makeup seems to accentuate, making her seem almost inhuman. Like an idealisation, rather than a real person.
She's wearing a black shoulderless dress, who's skirt barely passes her knees and colour matches her hair, with a similarly black long coat draped over it. She also has a choker on with a small bell at it's front, enticing, glossy lipstick and a pair of red ribbons in her hair.
The elder of the two, Juuzou, is similarly doll-like in appearance, only with lightly tanned skin instead of Suzuya's pale white, and sporting a moderate bust to match her more curvy physique. She is wearing a white, frilled blouse tucked into a red dress of similar length to her friend's.
Other than having a more mature physique, another thing separating Juuzou from Suzuya is her snow white hair, though it is just as long as the younger woman's. She even has her own red ribbons in her hair, though she is wearing them on the front of her head, instead of the sides like Suzuya. Her ribbons push her bangs to the side, crossing over themselves to make an 'XXII' on her forehead.
The two of them are both seated atop one of the cages decorating the room, swaying their feet back and forth over the cage's edge, having been tasked with ensuring that none of the merchandise gets damaged or runs away.
A boring task from them, when there's fighting happening in the room over.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan~?"
The innocent captive inside the cage they are sitting on flinches slightly when Suzuya starts talking, cringing back and crawling into a ball.
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun~?"
"Do you think we'll get a chance to play?" Suzuya asks in Japanese, more comfortable with her birth language.
"Dunno~, maybe. Depends if Papa makes Trick-chan share." Juuzou answers, starting with English but changing to Japanese without really thinking about it.
"Mouuu~. Trick-chan is a meanie."
"Un un," Juuzou responds, nodding her head twice as she does. "Trick-chan is a bully."
"Ne ne...Can we kill her?"
Juuzou deadpans at Suzuya's wide-eyed, pleading expression.
"No."
"Not even a little?"
"Īe."
"Please?"
"Nein."
"Pretty please?"
"Non."
"Pretty super mega please with a cherry on top?"
"Papa would be mad."
"Uso! Papa wouldn't mind~."
"Mama would be mad."
"Yabaiii~."
"Un."
The sit in silence for a moment, just swaying their legs back and forth and watching over the half dressed slaves, before Suzuya speaks up again.
"What if Mama doesn't know it was us?"
"Papa would ask us, Bakayarou."
"Hey!" Suzuya exclaims at the insult, but before anything can devolve into another fight, both of their heads snap to the other room as the familiar sound of gunshots ring out. "Someone's cheating?"
"Īe, no one else has guns."
As if to prove her point, the far wall explodes inwards in a shower of debris, some of which hits a couple of captives, making both the girls smile with amusement. From the cloud of debris, two people come through.
The first, Assault, is a lean man wearing red body armour, with a visor covering the upper half of his face. The second, Battery, is a woman wearing a skin-tight white and dark grey costume with circuit-like cobalt-blue lines on it that are glowing an electric blue-white.
Following a few paces behind the pair is about a dozen PRT troopers in full armour and with their weapons at the ready.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan." Suzuya starts, leaning closer to Juuzou and cupping her mouth in her hands in a failed attempt at muffling her voice.
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun?" The favour is returned as Juuzou cups her mouth the same, leaning to her side even as she keeps her eyes locked with the male of the Heroes, knowing that Suzu would be watching the woman.
"I don't think they were invited, Zou-chan."
"Īe~, I don't think they were invited either, Suzu-kun."
"Do they not like walls? The door is just there, Zou-chan."
"I think it's a Hero thing, Suzu-kun."
"Ahhh, I understand, Zou-chan," Suzu says, before transitioning to English, her Japanese accent clear through her exclamation. "Dramatic Enteransu!!!"
The pair of Heroes gape slightly at the sight of Suzu jumping to her feet and pumping a fist in the air along with her words, before nodding proudly to herself, matched by Juuzou nodding along beside her, whispering, the same words in agreement. "Dramatic enteransu."
Snapping out of their daze thanks to an explosion in the other room, both from the sight of people in cages and the little byplay taking place in front of them, the Heroes burst into action.
"Yo!" Assault begins, as informal as he typically is, "you girls mind coming down here and surrendering peacefully? We don't really have to fight."
Tilting her head so that she is looking down her nose at him, Juuzou's tone is one of mocking contempt as she answers. "Īe. Papa would yell at us, and you're not all that scary anyway."
He seems like he wants to keep talking, but his partner elbows him and with a sigh, Assault readies himself for a fight, with Battery charging her power up beside him.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan?"
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun?"
"Can we kill them?"
"Hai hai~."
"Yatta~!"
Without any warning, Suzuya is suddenly charging the pair of Heroes, a knife in each hand and a dopey smile on her face. They only manage to react to her movement by the time she is right in front of them, throwing one knife at Assault's face while bringing the other down on Battery.
However, Assault simply ignores the knife and burst forward to Suzu, the knife hitting his face and simply losing all momentum and falling to the ground. At the same time, Battery simply blurs and disappears from where she stood right as the knife comes down, only managing to hit her afterimage.
"Nani?" Is all Suzuya gets to say before she has to abruptly lean back in an impressive display of acrobatics in order to avoid Assault grappling her, flipping backwards on her hands in a cartwheel to get some distance.
At the same time, Battery reappears behind Juuzou, who hadn't even gotten to her feet yet. As the Hero reaches down in an attempt to capture the young Villain, she simply falls forward, dropping off the cage while twisting to swing a thin hidden sword at Battery's neck, managing to nick the older woman, making her choke for a moment, even if her costume protected her from actually getting cut.
As soon as Juuzou's foot touches the ground, she launches herself towards Suzuya, not even sparing Battery a glance.
The two girls regroup, standing back to back to face the Heroes surrounding them.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan?"
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun?"
"They're pretty strong, Zou-chan."
"Uso, only a little, Suzu-kun."
Without a word, Suzuya starts stepping to the side, rotating them both around so that Juuzou is facing Assault. "You can take him then, Zou-chan."
"Easy!" Juuzou yells out before charging forward with impressive speeds at Assault, raising a fist and landing a solid punch right on his unmoving face, only for her fist to come to a stop as soon as it touches him, like hitting a brick wall except there's no pain on her fist. It just...stopped.
With a smirk on his face, Assault raises a single finger and pokes Juuzou in the gut.
With a disproportionately loud bang, her body is launched away from him, folding over itself until she impacts an empty cage right next to Suzuya, denting the bars in slightly.
"Oof."
"You okay, Zou-chan?"
"Īe, Suzu-kun, I'm not okay," Juuzou responds as she slowly gets to her feet, swaying slightly and looking down, leaving her hair covering her face as she demurely mutters to herself. "So mean, I'm just a girl."
With another burst of speed, Juuzou charges at Assault again, only this time her arms come alight with flame right as she reaches him, making Assault instinctively flinch away.
"Duck!" Battery suddenly exclaims, and Assault immediately obeys, putting him out of the way of her leg as she swings it over his head and into Juuzou's torso, launching her straight back into the same cage with another bang.
"Thanks for the save, Puppy."
"Focus, Assault."
"Tch." Despite his dissatisfaction, Assault does as told and moves after Juuzou, intending to contain her before she gets up again.
Noticing his approach, Juuzou calls out. "Suzu-chan!"
"'Kay." Suzuya answers as she intercepts Assault, her long coat seemingly coming to life and rushing at the Hero, who chooses to disengage and avoid it, just in case.
Being a Hero means that he always has to take the safe option, even if he thinks that he'd be fine. However, without knowing their powers fully, he has to be cautious. Maybe her coat would have some kind of trump effect if it captured him? It's not a risk the PRT would want him to take.
Suzuya helps Juuzou back to her feet, and the two of them stare down the Heroes, both of them smiling despite being seemingly outclassed.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan?"
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun?"
"Are we in trouble?"
"Īe, there's only two of them, Suzu-kun. We can kill 'em easy."
A small portion of the ceiling abruptly vaporises in an explosion of blue-white lightning, and a man in Greek-styled armour glowing with power levitates himself down through the hole, giving the room an appraising look before his eyes fall on the two girls and stop.
Turning an expressionless face back to the first two Heroes, Juuzou opens her mouth. "Assault-senpai, don't you think fighting is tragic?"
Equally deadpan, Assault gives her a blank look. "No."
The room enters a tense silence as each side eyes each other up, before Juuzou nods to herself, seeming to come to a conclusion.
"Suzu-kun."
"Hai, Zou-chan."
"Goodluck."
That is all she says before abruptly turning to the side and sprinting away, Suzuya following her lead and sprinting in the opposite direction right after.
It takes the Heroes a second to accept what just happened, and with wry smiles, they quickly chase after the teenage Villains, catching them within the minute. Neither of the two fight back, instead they both start spouting almost the exact same lines about the value of peace and friendship.
They are summarily ignored and shoved in a prisoner transport together, bound in chains and then further covered in containment foam to ensure they cannot escape.
Sitting there, facing each other, both of them share a blank look, ignoring the commotion outside the open truck, people bustling about in the aftermath of a successful raid.
"Ne ne, Zou-chan."
"Hai hai, Suzu-kun."
"This is bad, right?"
"Hai~. It's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."
A pair of troopers step up into the back of the transport with them, one of them noticeably wielding a con-foam shooter. The two troopers reach out to the back doors and slam them both shut, the sound unnaturally jarring, final, to the two girls.
"Zou-chan?"
"Hai, Suzu-kun?"
"Are we gonna be okay?"
"Hai, Suzu-kun. We'll be fine." Juuzou answers with confidence, knowing that both of them being minors will protect them, and that's ignoring the fact that their Papa is a Master.
The van rumbles to life, vibrations shooting up the girl's spines as they feel it start moving, slowly pulling away from the warehouse and likely heading towards some cell or other.
"Ne, Zou-chan?"
"Hai, Suzu-kun?"
"Will Papa and Mama be okay?"
This time, Juuzou does not answer.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Phew, whaddaya think? I'm still unsure about language stuff, cuz part of me wants to write things in the actual language, but a bigger part of me wants it to be readable, and doesn't want long strings of non-english words.
Anywho, other than that, it's sequel time! What do you think of the Title? Cuz I think it's fucking dope. Like, an insanely good title that I got real giddy about when I came up with it....Writing this, I realise that I can't share why it's such a good title without spoiling things :/
I'm sure you'll figure out at least some of it, maybe even most, it isn't that deep, but still, no spoilers this time. All of the plans I have for what is going to happen is only the latter half, so I have no fucking clue what I'm gonna be writing for this until those plans can come into effect. But when they do, it's gonna be dope af, so no spoilers!
Also, since I've been watching JJK, Juuzou and Suzuya will prolly be a bit more animated than most characters lol, especially since they're both referencing a Tokyo Ghoul character :0